Vandermein

II

From what I gathered, a medium sized shipping vessel was preparing to return to Guangzhou, but their cargo consisted of many abducted children from around the United States, Canada, Mexico, and some other Central American countries. Apparently there was some sort of explosion on the ship when it was a few miles out, and the bodies began to wash up.

It made me sick. How could something like this happen in my own back yard?
I was in the middle of my research, identifying the ship's owners, attempting to draw links between the missing children and their homes so I could establish a pattern. Any one of these children could have been my own, and if this...monster was still alive, then they could very well be next.

That was when another knock came at my door.

I checked the time: 1:42AM. It was late for a house visit from Boone, and I'd heard nothing about me in any of the radio chatter. Could Boone have been so traumatized by this that he drunk himself into a rage? Better safe than sorry. This time, I pulled my gun from its secret compartment behind the wall's coat rack and checked the camera. It was the Boone's young partner, swaying anxiously in place, her head on a swivel.

I opened the door a crack and concealed my gun against the wall.

"Good evening, dear. Is everything okay?"

"We need to talk, doctor," she hissed through her teeth.

"Talk? About what? I don't know if your boss has told you this yet, but usually there's threat of warrants first. Please do try to stick to the script."

She shook her head. "I'm not here as a cop," she told me, peeking into the house behind me. She wanted in. Desperately.

What an odd tactic, I thought. Brilliant, but odd. Could Boone have intentionally hinted that his partner was in danger, acting drunk and belligerent, so that I might feel sympathy for the young woman? Did he think I'd let her into my home, allow her to peek around? She wouldn't find anything, of course. I don't defecate where I eat. But still. It was almost disrespectful.

The freshness of the situation, however, lured me in. What are we playing at Boone? I needed to see how this unfolded.